On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 20:24:50 -0800, Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to
reply wrote:

Shawn Hirn wrote:

My parents offered to sell their modest row house and use it and a large
investment that comes due in 2008 for this purpose. My job is good and
my FICO score is high, so making the mortgage payments is not a problem
for a house my folks and I would want in the area my parents have in
mind.

My sister (with her husband and children) did this with my elderly mom,
and it is working out perfectly fine, except they ended up doing what
they needed to in order to get her name off the mortgage, because there
were potential Medicare-type complications.

The fact that they gave you such a HUGE gift could cause major problems
with Medicare if one of them gets ill in the next X (I don't know what
the number is) years, because Medicare will look at that as an attempt
to hide money in order to take money from the system instead of use
their own funds. And if you put their name on the title of the house to
try to avoid having it look like that, the fact that they own a house
will cause problems with Medicare as well.

Excellent points above. Based on a good friend's experience, the
timeframe is three years from the date of the gift that the federal
government will thoroughly investigate financial records to verify
assets and need.

If your parents are in pretty good health, now is the time to make
this kind of transfer. I do agree with everyone else that you need to
take under advisement the long-term ramifications of this kind of
undertaking. Financially, it's a great idea, but it does jeopardize
your prospects of marriage and increase your chances of taking on huge
caretaking duties.